By Howard Fischer
Mail | X: @azcapmedia

PHOENIX - Senate President Warren Petersen said he does not plan to introduce legislation to alter the requirements for an assured water supply for new development despite his criticism of the historic 1980 law that created it.

The Gilbert Republican said his comments, given last week to the Arizona Tax Research Association where he was asked to preview his legislative priorities, were meant to emphasize that the mandate to show a source of water will be available for 100 years was "arbitrary.''

"Why not 95?'' he asked. "Why not the same as California?

And he complained about the Department of Water Resources halting new construction in two areas on the edges of Phoenix earlier this year. He said that would not have happened if the standard here were something less, like California which requires a 25-year supply.

"We could say we'll go five years or 10 years higher than anybody in the whole nation,'' Petersen said. And with that as the standard and new "modeling'' of available supply, he said, "there's suddenly a boatload of water for housing.''

And that, by extension, would eliminate the bar on the development in areas of Queen Creek and Buckeye.

But Petersen said despite his criticism of the law and its effect on housing availability, he is not seeking to change the law but to make the point that the focus on - and regulation of - the amount of water needed for residential development ignores a bigger issue.

"People don't realize that housing is a small piece of the pie,'' he said.

The Department of Water Resources says that about 20% of the state's water supply is for municipal use, most of that for residential. The lion's share of what's left goes for agriculture, with the balance for industrial uses.

Yet Petersen said the attention on conservation has largely been on new homes.

"Our focus needs to be on the big piece of the pie for solutions,'' he said. Petersen said housing already is "regulated to the hilt and conserving well.''

And agriculture?

"Why isn't there a 100-year water supply on them?'' he asked.

But Petersen had no answer for how the state might get agriculture to give up some of the water which farmers are claiming and using.

He said that is being addressed by Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye. She chairs the Senate Committee on Natural Resource, Energy and Water. She also is a dairy farmer.

"She's got 20 common-sense things that can deal with the piece of the pie that is the largest - and, by far, really where we need to be talking,'' Petersen said.

Kerr, however, did not respond to repeat messages seeking specifics.

Leaving aside his feelings on the mandate of that 100-year "assured water supply,'' Petersen said he sees no reason to revisit requirements on residential development.

"Housing, we are doing a fantastic job,'' Petersen said, saying 7.5 million people are using the same amount of water as 1.5 million people.